Beehive



Aug 23,1938 o. A. KING 0 2,128,000

BEEHIVE Filed May -l'7, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet l O. A. KING Aug. 23, 1938.

Patented Aug. 23, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BEEHIVE Oral A. King, near Norfolk, Va.

Application May 17, 1937, Serial No. 143,165

8 Claims.

My invention relates to beehives and concerns or is embodied in means, or instrumentalities, which enable such manipulation or management of the hive as will control the movements or 5 actions of the bees in the interest of swarm prevention; permit the presence, without objection from the bees, of two queen bees in the same hive; enable the peaceful uniting of two colonies in one; and enable rearing of young queens.

I refer, by way of example, to an embodiment of my invention which may comprise a hive assembly composed of four tiered compartments or bodies, namely, a brood chamber at bottom and top, each having a queen, and two supers between, one on the bottom brood chamber with a queen excluder between them and the other below the top brood chamber with a separator or control'board between them, having the characteristics of construction hereinafter described, by the adjustment or manipulation of which the results above set forth and those after-mentioned may be accomplished;

By my invention, the two queens are kept apart, but worker bees have ready access to all parts of the hive for the performance of the customary hive activities.

My invention consists in the construction defined-by or included within the terms or scope of the appended claims.

In the drawings, which illustrate a satisfactory embodiment of my invention:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a beehive embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a view, partly in side elevation and partly in vertical section, of the upper brood chamber and a portion of the super below it, with the interposed bee-movement controlling board arranged to prevent free passage of bees above and below;

board;

. Fig. 5 is a detail front view with the combined entrance closer and alighting board in position for use;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the frame and reversible and removable solid member of the board shown separated;

Fig. '7 is a like view of the frame and member of such board;

grating Fig. 8 is a view similar to Fig. 3 with the board grating'member in position;

Fig. 9 is a detail plan View of a portion of the board grating member; and

Fig. 10 is a detail perspective view of the combined entrance closer and alighting board.

The direct beneficial results of the use of the present invention is the maintenance of a large strong colony of worker-bees in a hive, a larger production of honey (in some instances-an increase of more than over old or prior practices have been obtained), and reduction of material, labor and expense in preventing swarming and in the operation of colonies, particularly in uniting, in requeening before killing the old queen and in forced supercedure, rearing of queens and mating; and, furthermore, the invention facilitates transferring, ventilating, providing of top entrances and in wintering one colony over another, all of which will be manifest to one skilled in the art from the following disclosure.

When, in the usually active hive, there are several sealed queen cells, swarming will occur, resulting in the colony being divided, thus leaving the hive with a weaker colony and possible loss of the swarmed bees as well as providing other vexing problems and labors well known to the apiarist.

Broadly to avoid swarming, the present invention contemplates placing a new brood chamber H (empty except for frames) under the old brood chamber I5 of the hive, in which latter the colony is about to swarm, and interposing between the two brood chambers a separation board (such as the control board I1-I9 shown in the drawings) or other suitable means which will prevent communication by the bees between the two brood chambers II and I5. Of course, the lower or newly inserted brood chamber ll may have an additional brood chamber I2 and/or supers l4 placed upon it, between it and the separation board; and the upper or old brood chamber 15 of the colony may still have superposed upon it such additional brood chamber or super s which was originally the case with the hive before the insertion of the new lower brood chamber. The lower or newly inserted brood chamber II should contain frames, of course, and at least one of which frames, preferably in the center of the chamber, contains capped brood cells and one ripe queen cell. The other frames may contain built-up comb or only certain of them may have built-up comb and the other foundation. If the lower or newly inserted brood chamber H has immediately superposed upon it, a super containing honey or other food store for the bees, it may not be necessary to provide filled honey comb in any of the frames in the lower or newly inserted brood chamber. However, as an alternative, the ripe queen cell may not be provided or required in the frame containing the capped brood cells, if it is desired to place another queen within the lower or newly inserted brood chamber H; and, as a further alternative, it is not necessary to provide a frame with capped brood cells or with a ripe queen bee cell if other bees and a queen (such as from package bees or otherwise acquired) are placed in the lower newly inserted brood chamber II to start a new colony therein.

With the above arrangement, under any of the conditions mentioned, the older bees from the upper brood chamber l5 will fly therefrom by way of the entrance 22 and will return to the hive through the entrance at the bottom board I0 of the lower and newly inserted brood cham her I I, which is the entrance through which they are accustomed to return to the hive, but in view of the interposition of the separating board I! and 19, above mentioned, these worker bees, together with their queen, cannot ascend into the upper brood chamber of the old colony. In this manner the upper brood chamber l5, and whatever supers are imposed upon it, will be relieved of a crowded condition and thus avert the tendency of the bees toward swarming as the older bees, which have now entered the new brood chamber I I, will continue to return thereto after field flights and will establish a colony therein,

having accepted the new conditions of the lower brood chamber II with its new queen. Ofcourse it will be understood that if the lower brood chamber is not provided in the first instance with a live existing queen, but has a ripe queen cell therein, after a day or two, the new queen will hatch out and within the usual time will have her mating flight and return tothe hive to perform the functions of the queen bee in the normal way.

When the new brood in the upper brood chamber is hatched out (the upper brood chamber of course still containing its queen and a certain number of hive bees) it will, in due time, make its field flights and return to the hive through the entrance 22 of the upper brood chamber l5, thus establishing two colonies in a single hive.

After a short period of time and after the beekeeper has observed that the action of these two colonies is normal he may then provide a communication between the two colonies in any suitable manner, but this communication should be such that the worker bees from the two colonies can only come in contact a few at a time or in a very gradual manner and in this way avoid a tendency of any contention or confusion between the two colonies. The separator board, above referred to and which will be further more specifically described, may be of such construction that by mere reversing it this communication, just mentioned, between two colonies can be quite satisfactorily established.

In practice it has been found that the old queen in the upper brood chamber I5 is attracted by the brood therein and by this attraction she does not travel below the old or upper brood chamber; and, further, it has been observed that the dividing board l'll9, above referred to, has a tendency to discourage the new queen in the lower brood chamber H from going beyond her own brood chamber or above the board and, also, of discouraging the queen bee from the upper brood chamber l5 from going below the same; but at certain times of the year during honey fiow, the hive conditions may be such that it is necessary, or at least desirable, to use a queen excluder I3, at least in conjunction with the lower brood chamber ll so as to keep the queen bees from meeting. In this way, the two colonies may be very peacefully united and thus establish one strong colony with two queen bees, if separated one from the other.

After the new queen in the lower colony has acquired a fair size brood nest of her own the old queen in the upper brood chamber may be disposed of and the two sets of brood united.

The present method has been found to definitely check swarming after the colony has made extensive preparations to swarm. Tests have also been made upon colonies prior to their preparation to swarm, with the result that preparation to swarm and eventual swarming was avoided. s

The present method further eliminates the necessity of continual search for queen bee cells every 7 or 8 days, has resulted in larger crops of honey, a larger force of bees to go to the fields for collecting nectar, the hive having a series of entrances which decreases the travel distance within the hivethus greatly decreasing congestion within the brood chamberand providing means for better ventilating the hive, especially in warm weather.

Referring to the beehive assembly shown in Fig. 1 there is a bottom board ID on which rests the new or inserted brood chamber H above referred to containing a queen and above the chamber II is a super 12 with an interposed queen-excluder 13. A second super I4 is shown above the super [2, and above the second super :2 is a brood chamber [5 covered by a top cover Between the second super l4 and the top brood chamber Il'ris placed my bee control board which comprises an open rectangular wooden frame I! which has the external and internal dimensions substantially that of the chamber and super walls, but with an inwardly projecting narrow ledge N3 of sheet metal for the removable support of two members,-a fiat solid 'member l9 and a grating 20 which'are interchangeably used with the frame IT.

The ledge 18 is conveniently made of sheet metal and includes two oppositely extending horizontal flange portions in different planes and connected at their inner ends by a vertical portion. The upper horizontal flange is suitably secured to the frame H, such as set into a slot therein, and the lower horizontal portion being spaced a substantial distance from the frame side, and forming with the vertical portion a seat at each sideof the frame for either the solid member H! or the grating member 20 by which such members are supported on all four sides of the frame I! and spaced away from the interior of the frame l1. (See Figs. 4, 6 and. '7.)

The solid member [9 is of flat sheet form and on one side has four strips or cleats 2l along each of its four edges,two at opposite edges extending entirely across the member from side to side and the other two being cut off at their opposite ends to provide short spaces Zi between such ends and the other cleats, through each of which spaces a limited number of bees may pass at a time to the space outside the solid member, when,

the bees at such points.

as shown in Fig. 4, the member I9 is placed with the cleats downward and resting on the ledge I8 and with the sheet portion of the member 19 spaced above the upper or higher horizontal flange of the ledge 18. When the member 19 is in its position, with the cleats uppermost as shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 6, the sheet portion of the member will closely seat at all four edges on the ledge l8 and completely out off passage of bees. But, when the control board member 19 is inverted, as shown in Fig. 4, the bees of the two colonies in the brood chambers II and I5 of the hive, may pass freely but gradually above and below the board and at peace with one another, so that the two colonies will unite and with loyalty to both queens in the brood chambers. The solid member is may be built up of wood, of sheet metal, or of other suitable material.

In what is the front bar of the frame H, I provide at least a pair of relatively short openings 22 that reach between outside and inside of the frame, each of said pairs of openings being such as to'communicate, respectively, with an adjacent chamber of the hive above and below the board member I! for entrance and exit of There is preferably a pair of such openings 22 in each front and rear of the frame ll bar, and one of them opens inside of the frame above the ledge 18 and the other below it, (see Fig. 4). Both openings at their outer ends open at the longitudinal center of the bar, and from their outer ends may incline upward and downward, respectively to locate their inner ends, respectively, above and below the ledge I8. Either one or both openings 22 may be closed, at will, when occasion requires by the closure device 23, best shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 10. Said device 23 is a sheet metal plate bent so that it comprises a central plate member a' and two oppositely projecting members or wings b and c at right angles to the central member a which aline with one another at midpoint of the central member a. The member b is, preferably, the same length as member a, while 0 is about one-half that length, thus providing a wing d of the same length as 0 but alined with or in the plane of the member a so that in. cross-section the closure device 23 is cruciform in shape. Any one of the wings a, b, c or d of the closure device 23 is adapted to be slipped or inserted between the opposing edges of the board frame I! and the wall of the adjacent chamber or super until the then vertical members or wings abut against the outer faces of such frame H or wall chamber with one or the other vertical member (as may be selected) lying over and closing the outer ends of one or both bee openings 22. The closure members or wings a and b are long enough to cover both openings 22 while the other two 0 and d are only long enough to cover one opening. Also, any one of the members or wings may serve as an alighting board for the bees. Preferably one of the longer opening closure wings b is perforated with small holes 24 to permit passage of air for ventilation purposes, these perforations, of course, being too small for bees to pass through.

By the proper insertion of the closure device 23 between opposing edges, as shown, to effect the desired control of the hive, both openings 22 in the frame [1 may be closed by the wing at, one closed and the other opened for ventilation only by the wing b, or one closed and the other opening uncovered as by the use of either of the short Wings 0 and d; or by suitable selection of the wings and sliding the closure as desired either one or the other of the openings 22 may be permitted to be closed and the other opened, or by suitable sliding of the closure one opening 22 may be left uncovered and the other closed by the perforated portion of the wing b for ventilation purposes only. Also by suitable selection of the wings a, b, e and d for closure purposes and sliding the same in the manner which is understood, any one of the openings 22 may be partially closed to allow one bee at a time to pass into it or as many as maybe desired within the capacity of the openings 22, while at the same time the other opening 22 maybe entirely closed by use of the wing at or may be closed merely for ventilation purposes, as by use of the wing b, or may be left partially open as through the use of any one of the openings 0 or d; thus at least as many as seven or more positions may be given the closure device 23 by reason of the fact that any one of its wings a, b, cor (1 may be inserted and lie between the board ll and the adjacent hive compartment.

When use of the solid member I9 is no longer the grating 20 may replace it in the frame to partly fill the space that would otherwise be left between the bottoms of the brood frames in the top brood chamber and the tops of the frames in the super below, which if left would cause the bees to build comb therein. The grating 20, while filling that space suiiicient to prevent comb-building therein, allows free passage of bees through the grating slots and indeed serves as a sort of ladder that aids the passage of the bees between super and brood chamber. The grating is composed of parallel strips of wood '26 held together by transverse bolts 21 with washers or spacers 28 between adjacent strips to provide slots or interstices a bee-space-wide, thus forming a rectangle that fits the seat of ledge 18. Such slots also provide air passages for ventilation.

The openings 22 of the board may serve as top entrances in winter.

The manipulations or adjustments required by my method and board are simple and may easily be performed. Of course, changes may be made from what I show and describe as a satisfactory embodiment of my invention, without departure from the latter.

What I claim is:--

1. A bee controlling-board of the type described for use between tiered up compartments of a hive, said controlling board comprising a frame having a central bee passage therethrough and supporting means thereon, and a reversible control member in such frame resting on such supporting means in the path of movement of bees through the frame, said control member closing the bee passage in the frame when in one position in said frame, and to open said bee passage in the frame when in an inverted position in the frame.

2. A beehive control board, as in claim 1, in which the internal supporting means is a horizontally inwardly extending ledge, the frame having other bee passages which open above and below the said ledge and lead from the frame exterior.

3. A beehive control board, as in claim 1, in which the internal supporting means is a horizontally extending ledge, and the reversible member is a sheet-form part adapted to rest on one side at its edges upon said ledge and completely close said central bee passage vertically through the frame and having on its opposite side vertical projections with horizontal bee passages, said projections when the member is inverted being adapted to rest on said ledge and support the sheet-form or part above the ledge.

4. A beehive control board for use with hive compartments arranged one above another comprising a frame-form member to be interposed between the top and bottom edges of adjacent compartments, a side of said frame member having a bee opening from the outside to the inside thereof, and an opening closure having vertical and horizontal portions at substantially right angles to one another adapted, respectively and selectively, to lie over such opening and to extend between the frame and the adjacent hive part.

5. A beehive control board as in claim 4 in which the opening closure has two opposite vertical portions and two opposite horizontal portions, both vertical portions being opening covers and one of the horizontal portions being an alighting board and the other horizontal portion being slidably insertably between the edges of adjacent parts.

6. In a control device for beehives comprising a member having two substantially close openings for ingress and egress, and a closure member for said openings having wing portions, said closure member adapted to selectively have its wing portions slidably disposed with respect to said entrance openings to selectively open and close the same or to partially open and close the same, two of said wings of said closure member being of a length adapted to cover said openings simultaneously and one of said last mentioned wings having a perforated section the width of said openings, the other wings of said closure being of a length to cover one of said entrance openings at a time.

7. In a control device for beehives comprising a member having two substantially close openings for ingress and egress, and a closure member for said openings having Wing portions, said wing portions being insertable between the edges of adjacent portions of the hive whereby the closure member is held in place and permitted to be slid from one position to another, two of said Wings of said closure member being of a length adapted to cover said openings simultaneously and one of said last mentioned wings having a perforated section the width of said openings, the other wings of said closure being of a length to cover one of said entrance openings at a time.

8. In a control device for beehives comprising a member having two substantially close openings for ingress and egress, and a closure member for said openings having wing portions extending therefrom whereby the closure is substantially cruciform in end view, said wing portions being insertable between the edges of adjacent portions of the hive whereby the closure member is held in place and permitted to be slid from one position to another, two of said wings of said closure member being of a length adapted to cover said openings simultaneously and one of said last mentioned wings having a perforated section the width of one of said openings, the other Wings of said closure being of a length to cover one of said entrance openings at a time.

ORAL A. KING. 

